OT-The Missing Gun
Gunner
By JOHN R. LOTT, JR.
http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/38115.htm
January 25, 2002 -- ANOTHER school shooting occurred last week and the
headlines were everywhere the same, from Australia to Nigeria. This
time the
shooting occurred at a university, the Appalachian Law School. As
usual,
there were calls for more gun control.
Yet in this age of "gun-free school zones," one fact was missing from
virtually all the news coverage: The attack was stopped by two
students who
had guns in their cars.
The fast responses of two male students, Mikael Gross, 34, and Tracy
Bridges, 25, undoubtedly saved multiple lives.
Mikael was outside the law school and just returning from lunch when
Peter
Odighizuwa started his attack. Tracy was in a classroom waiting for
class to
start.
When the shots rang out, utter chaos erupted. Mikael said, "People
were
running everywhere. They were jumping behind cars, running out in
front of
traffic, trying to get away."
Mikael and Tracy did something quite different: Both immediately ran
to
their cars and got their guns. Mikael had to run about 100 yards to
get to
his car. Along with Ted Besen (who was unarmed), they approached Peter
from
different sides.
As Tracy explained it, "I aimed my gun at him, and Peter tossed his
gun
down. Ted approached Peter, and Peter hit Ted in the jaw. Ted pushed
him
back and we all jumped on."
What is so remarkable is that out of 280 separate news stories (from a
computerized Nexis-Lexis search) in the week after the event, just
four
stories mentioned that the students who stopped the attack had guns.
Only two local newspapers (the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the
Charlotte
Observer) mentioned that the students actually pointed their guns at
the
attacker.
Much more typical was the scenario described by the Washington Post,
where
the heroes had simply "helped subdue" the killer. The New York Times
noted
only that the attacker was "tackled by fellow students."
Most in the media who discussed how the attack was stopped said:
"students
overpowered a gunman," "students ended the rampage by tackling him,"
"the
gunman was tackled by four male students before being arrested," or
"Students ended the rampage by confronting and then tackling the
gunman, who
dropped his weapon."
In all, 72, stories described how the attacker was stopped without
mentioning that the student heroes had guns.
Unfortunately, the coverage in this case was not unusual. In the other
public school shootings where citizens with guns have stopped attacks,
rarely do more than one percent of the news stories mention that
citizens
with guns stopped the attacks.
Many people find it hard to believe that research shows that there are
2
million defensive gun uses each year. After all, if these events were
really
happening, wouldn't we hear about them on the news? But when was the
last
time you saw a story on the national evening news (or even the local
news)
about a citizen using his gun to stop a crime?
This misreporting actually endangers people's lives. By selectively
reporting the news and turning a defensive gun use story into one
where
students merely "overpowered a gunman" the media gives misleading
impressions of what works when people are confronted by violence.
Research consistently shows that having a gun is the safest way to
respond
to any type of criminal attack, especially these multiple victim
shootings.
John Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
and the
author of "More Guns, Less Crime."
------------------------------
A.K. Pritchard
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"The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the
people at large or considered as individuals... It establishes some
rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no
majority has a right to deprive them of."
- Albert Gallatin of the New York Historical Society, October 7, 1789
"Find out just what the people will submit to and you will have found
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Steve Walker
110% here. It's too bad people don't get the good side of weapon ownership
shown to them because of media reporting practices. I'm certain most of the
72 media reports all had the facts, and most chose to either ignore them or
didn't want to appear biased. I'm a proud owner of 5 weapons, at least one
is always in the car. The supposed fear that many groups want to instill
into the public of legalized concealed carry is false. Just because you have
a weapon doesn't make you a criminal. The only category I know of , in which
having power to commit crimes converts many to criminals, is politics. 'Nuff
Said. (thanks Stan)
--
Steve Walker
res0...@walletverizon.net (remove wallet to reply, it's free)
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Michael Gray
Have just come back from a trip to the UK and Spain. While in Spain
was astounded to visit a hardware store (because of the replica guns
in the window) and found not only replicas, but a huge display case of
"real" guns! Walthers etc plus what looked like Uzis, reasonable
prices too.
Does anyone know anything about gun possession laws in Spain? And
consider....this is the country with ETA, the Basque 'terrorists'.
In the UK on the other hand, to even talk about gun possession is
definitely politically incorrect, if my brothers and sisters-in-law
are anything to go by. Canada is rapidly going in this direction
too, or should I say city-dwelling Canada? rural Canadians know what
guns are for!
Mike, in North-Central BC at -25*C this fine morning
jrl...@cwcom.net
> rural Canadians know what
>guns are for!
Same here really, 'cept there's less of us!!
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jrl...@cwcom.net John Lloyd - Cymru/Wales
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